The Colombian government and the guerrilla of the National Liberation Army (ELN) announced this Tuesday from Caracas the resumption of peace talks which had been suspended since 2019.
“The most important thing for us is to restart, any adjustment at the table will be agreed upon with the government,” said Antonio García, commander of the ELN, confirming that the venues in which the points to reach an agreement will be discussed will rotate. In this way, the dialogues will continue in Cuba, Venezuela and Norway.
For its part, the Colombian government published a letter stating that the parties negotiations will resume at the point left in 2019. The official date of the resumption It will be in the first week of November this 2022.
“The peace delegation (of the ELN) has given us elements of deep confidence, these gestures have to do with the liberation of people who were in his power. There is also a evidence in the de-escalation of its actions in various territories where they operate We have also verified respect for the right to life by avoiding armed confrontation,” said the peace commissioner, Danilo Rueda.
The peace commissioner added that the center of the negotiation will be the Colombian society and that –as the talks progress– the guerrillas will be required to ratify their desire for peace through the release of hostages and other “humanitarian gestures” such as an eventual bilateral ceasefire.
The Colombian government clarified that the role of Cuba, Norway and Venezuela will be the observers of the word of the Colombian State and the ELN guerrilla.
“It was unfortunate what happened for more than four years, an impossibility of moving forward, for the non-recognition of the protocols by the Colombian State. (The countries) In their role as guarantors, they will act as guarantors of what has been agreed upon,” Rueda pointed out.
The last attempt at talks between the state and these subversives occurred in Quito, Ecuador. The conversation had been suspended by the government of former President Iván Duque after the ELN terrorist attack against the General Santander Cadet School in 2019. Since then the leaders of this guerrilla have remained in Havana, Cuba.